Cayuga 4/11 and Skaneateles 4/12

Reports

I figured I could knock off a couple birds here with one stone. In a nutshell, the Fingerlakes are still in a state of flux following the heavy rains and near flooding. North winds made the last couple days a pain for boat control. I was fishing on my own and did a bit of exploring.

Bait is starting to show up in Cayuga Lake down 40′ to 100′. I found trout/salmon to still be in winter areas despite the rising water and H2O temps. I landed just one salmon around 17″ in Cayuga. I had a follow from the largest brown I’ve ever had on the fly in Cayuga. The wind was hauling and I cast a chartreuse Lefty’s Deceiver towards shore when this slob materialized. It was a good 28″ to 30″ and probably all of 8 to 12lbs. It never hit and it never returned, which was a bummer! Water on Cayuga was murky and cold pretty much everywhere. My only luck came from finding clear water that was as warm as could be.

Skaneateles Lake is still at least a week to 2 weeks or more away from offering the 1st. class fly-fishing I’ve come to expect from this lake. The south end is quite stirred up with poor visibility. I missed a couple fish/hits down there and I never hooked a fish today. Toughest day I’ve had on this lake. Last year I did very well just after ice-out. I think this high water and heavy winds just has these fish scattered and lethargic. I at least managed to spend a couple hours working on learning a few new areas on this lake. One thing I always try to do is learn something. Sometimes the toughest days are the best days to watch the electronics and try to figure out new stretches of water, that will hopefully be tomorrow’s hotspots. I especially try to find areas that most people would overlook…..